NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The last time the Gators took the court, they lost courtesy of South Carolina's late-game theatrics. Sunday, UF put on a show of its own.
The Gators lit up the scoreboard in the first half, hitting a school-record 12 3-pointers, five of which came from forward Chandler Parsons, who finished with a career-high 27 points in UF's 94-69 win against Vanderbilt.
"When we're hitting like that, it'll be tough to beat us," guard Nick Calathes said.
Parsons and guard Erving Walker rebounded from the loss to the Gamecocks by scoring 15 each in the first half. Parsons started out a perfect 5 for 5 before missing his only shot of the game, a deep 3-pointer, with 2:44 remaining in the first half.
"It was just one of those days, man," Walker said. "Our shots were falling, and Chandler was hot."
Two other Gators - Calathes (10) and Walter Hodge (10) - scored in double figures before the break as well.
Calathes, who had three first-half turnovers within the span of one minute, said UF's main focus entering the game was not to let the emotional loss affect the way they played against the Commodores.
"I had to settle down a little bit," Calathes said. "But we settled down and got the offense going. We ran the ball, and I think we tired them down a little bit."
Walker, who had a career-high 17 points, noted the importance of the win for the Gators, who are off to a 4-1 start in Southeastern Conference play.
"We needed this win in the worst way," Walker said. "We didn't want to drop to 3-2, and we wanted to show that we could win on the road."
Walker said UF coach Billy Donovan continued to stress the importance of shooting with confidence before the game. And going forward, it will be difficult for UF to be anything but confident after shooting 60 percent from 3-point range for the game, including 12-of-18 shooting in the first half.
"You're always concerned when you are on the road in this league and you have a big lead," Donovan said. "You don't know how your team is going to respond. We were able to get off to a good start in the second half and build upon our lead, which gave us more confidence and more momentum."
Although the Gators had only seven 3-point attempts in the second half, their offensive attack did not lighten up. After halftime, UF instead focused on getting into the lane and attacking the basket.
"It wasn't so much that our shots were wide open or uncontested," Donovan said. "We had so many guys at different spots making shots that it stretched the floor more than Vanderbilt wanted."
